| Titre | Le parrain, son filleul et l'au-delà | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Agnès Fine | |
 |
Revue | Etudes rurales |
| Numéro | no 105-106, 1987 Retour des morts | |
| Rubrique / Thématique | Le retour des morts II - Les corps intermédiaires |
|
| Page | 123-146 | |
| Résumé anglais |
Godparent, Godchild and Afterlife
In some regions of France, it was customary to bury those who had never been godparents with their hands crossed behind their backs. Why was such a punishment meted out to these dead people ? What is expressed as an intrinsic quality of an individual, being a godparent, means in fact a relationship - no godparent without a godchild - which imposes reciprocal obligations. These duties are fully expressed at the moment of passage from life to death. Funeral rituals, tales and legends reveal the intensity of the tie between godparent and godchild, reciprocal mediators in the search for a peaceful life after death. Those who dodge this necessary relationship are irremediably doomed to a bad fate in the next world. Thus was the lot not only of children who died without godparents as it has always been taught by the Church, but also of adults who died without godchildren. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rural_0014-2182_1987_num_105_1_3185 |
